A reformed Mandurah drug addict says a therapeutic rehabilitation centre in the Pilbara has given him a second chance at life.
The Mandurah Mail is running the Falling Through the Cracks series over four weeks, highlighting the horrors of methamphetamine addiction and the terrible toll it is having on our community and the people that use it.
Falling Through the Cracks - Week one coverage:
After being a self-confessed "dropkick drug addict" for 11 years, Bradley Hall is eight months' clean and looking to become an upstanding member of society again.
Bradley said he started using meth when he was 17 but his pathway was drug use at school.
"I started smoking cannabis and taking dexies at high school," he said.
"I think if someone had come forward to me then and said they realised I had an issue that needed to be addressed, I think it could have made a huge change in my life."
Life as a meth addict
After leaving school, Bradley became addicted to meth.
"I couldn't find work after leaving school, I was 19 and it seemed to just go from everyone using ecstasy to everyone using meth," he said.
"It was a vicious cycle from then onwards. I kept losing jobs and my relationship was constantly on the rocks.
"I was just always using, always getting sick and always missing work. Then eventually I lost my house, my dogs, everything - and became homeless.
"I never looked at the issue as an addiction and it just got worse. I just thought I was partying, all my mates were doing it - I thought it would all turn out OK. It didn't."
Bradley said his 20s passed him by with an endless routine of trying to feed his meth addiction.
This led to him sleeping rough, stealing food and using all his money on drugs.
"The cost of half a ball of gear is the same as you get paid by Centrelink - $500," Bradley said.
"I'd buy that, end up smoking it in two or three days and be completely psychotic until the next week.
"I was hanging around with the other homeless people because I had nowhere else to go.
"When I did stay with my friends, they'd only have me there to take drugs. You just end up being a loser and you can't break the cycle.
"I got the point that if I had kept going I would have ended up dead or definitely in jail."
Things got so bad that Bradley tried to commit suicide twice.
A defining moment came earlier this year when he was arrested in Mandurah.
"One night I lost the plot at McDonalds and ended up assaulting someone because I was so out of it," Bradley said.
"I got arrested and faced court for criminal damage and assault. I was handed an 18-month suspended sentence - and luckily I found out about Turner River."
Falling Through the Cracks - Week two coverage:
- Read more: Enough is enough: Mandurah's police officers, retail staff and health workers tired of meth 'scourge'
- Read more: 'I'd be in jail or dead': Recovering Mandurah meth addict says support group saved his life
- Read more: 'It was hell': Former Mandurah drug dealer recounts his darkest days
- Read more: Comment: A place of hope for recovering Mandurah drug addicts
A second chance
Turner River Rehabilitation Facility is based in South Hedland and helps meth addicts to get their lives back on track.
Bradley has been there for eight months. Eighty per cent of his Centrelink allowance pays for his treatment and he can save the remaining 20 per cent.
"It gives you stability and helps you to become human again, I guess," he said.
"People can tell their GP that they are struggling with drugs and the doctor can refer them.
"I have found that talking about it all has really helped. We all try to help each other. It's really good."
Looking forward, Bradley wants to contribute to society, get a job - and stay clean.
"I just want to prove to myself that I can do a day's work, come home and do normal stuff - things that my parents did," he said.
"I want to live a productive life and be a normal member of society again after 11 years of being a dropkick drug addict."
Falling Through the Cracks - Week three coverage:
- Falling Through the Cracks series: Pinjarra mother tells debilitating addiction story
- 'I thought it would all turn out OK; it didn't' - Reformed Mandurah meth addict tells horrors of addiction
- Strain of drug use: Peel Health Campus' ability to handle meth addicts in ED questioned
- 'Chilling': Mandurah meth addict jailed for choking partner on restraining order
A stark message
Bradley said more education in schools was needed and he had a simple message for anyone considering taking meth - just don't do it.
"Meth is not a party drug - it is designed to ruin you," he said.
"It might seem fun at the start but two or three weeks in you start losing your friends, family - everything that makes you who you are will be taken away from you.
"Coming off meth is shocking. You have to deal with the guilt of all the things you have done - you aren't even yourself.
"You are some kind of robot doing these things to get a fix that is going to put you back in the same state.
"People that want to push it onto you, want to benefit from your misery. Stay away from it at all costs."
For information on Mandurah Narcotics Anonymous meeting times and help available to recovering drug addicts in the Peel region, call 1300 652 820 or visit wana.org.au.